I named this coral after the small village of Calacali in Ecuador in South America, that is right near my in-laws large farm. It's at almost two miles in altitude... on the edge of the cloud forest, and the equator goes right through it. I lived and studied there in the late 90s and met my wife there... we travel back there every year and a half or so... no trip this year due to COVID but here are some shots from last summer...Awesome John!! I have followed along on the other forums for a long time. Glad you have a thread here now as well. Beautiful setup and i will be following along for the ride.
I have a frag of your Calicali stag that is positioned in the center to be a showpiece. It is started to take off and I can tell it is going to be a stunner!!
Thank you for what you do for this hobby!
Josh
My two kids with my father-in-law... he's an accomplished architect and oversees the over 800 acre property...
The beauty and biodiversity there is legendary... here's the kids with their cousin Sophia "down by the river"
I love all of the beauty that Mother Nature creates with no plan... from the fish and corals I keep... to my gem and mineral collection... to the assortment of natural slabs of granite and marble I keep in the house... to the beautiful flowers on my in-laws farm! Check this out... I took an entire day last summer and drove the pickup truck around the farm there... cutting and collection flowers and plants...
I worked into the night piling up the bounty of beauty my in-laws have on their property... with the same passion I aquascape my reef tank...
I started making floral arrangements after nightfall...
I don't know what got into me... but it's the same passion that drives my reefkeeping... and I assembled four floral arrangements for my in-laws, who have always been very good to me. When I was younger and lived there they treated me like their own son,and are good to me to this day. My kids get to ride horses, get spit on my alpacas, play with guinea pigs (food there... not pets), and do all the things they cannot do back home in suburban Washington DC. Anyway... I assembled these three small floral arrangements...
I also did this large one with the pieces that were too big for a vase... notice my son rockin' the Live Aquaria t-shirt
Here's a shot I took that day of something else super cool... another beautiful resident of Calacali! This is not a tarantula eating a wasp... it's a wasp eating a tarantula! It's called a tarantula hawk... a "parasitoid wasp" that paralyzes tarantulas before taking them to their den to feed...
Copps